


it was for the best

by adozendays



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Discussion of Abortion, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Pre-Series, alice thinks of the past, spoilers for 1x08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 04:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10779183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adozendays/pseuds/adozendays
Summary: Spoilers for Chapter Eight. Alice thinks of what may have been and if it was for the best.





	it was for the best

**Author's Note:**

> In the comics, Betty and Polly had an older brother. I ran with the idea. I kept the timeline vague, since I'm only like 90 percent sure when Alice's abortion happened (1x11 was a huge clue but vagueness seems best). That scene at the end of 1x08 was really creepy and so is Hal. 
> 
> Also, there is a Sabrina reference in here. See if you could find it.

Dana Klump won’t stop bragging about her son being third in his class at State and Alice wants to shatter a glass and shove a piece in her eye.

 

But she smiles and nods, as if she is impressed by what Mick Klump has done with his life. Inside, she is screaming, holding back so many things that she wanted to say, that maybe she could be saying.

 

Chic would be the same age as Mick Klump, born a month before him in fact. Maybe they would have been friends. Or maybe they would have been rivals, two large fish fighting in the small pond of Riverdale. But Chic would always come out on top. He would have been the valedictorian of their class instead of the Klump boy, but he would have gotten into an Ivy. He would have been first in his class, graduated with honors. He would have been better than Riverdale.

 

He would have turned out better than she did, that was for sure.

 

Alice tried to think of Hal’s words. That she had not been ready, that she would have been a terrible mother if she’d had the baby. That it was for the best, that they could always do it again. And these children would be perfect, even if they had to give them a little push. She had poured everything into those girls. They had to be good, they had to be perfect, they had to be better. They could not be like her, wind up the way she had.

 

The memory of that sterile room and that dull ache that never seemed to go away would not linger in their minds.

 

Hal had told her that she needed to grow up, better herself. Back then, she had a bit of a reputation, people thought of Southside trash when they thought of her. She needed to be polished, actually do something with her life before she could have a baby. His children needed a good mother and did she really think she could handle motherhood?

 

Alice had tried to say she thought she could, but the words had died on her tongue and she had mutely nodded, agreeing with him. It would be for the best, she had said to show her agreement. Hal had nodded and patted her on the head, saying he could make arrangements before the end of the week.

 

The baby would have been named after her grandfather, the founder of a gang that had paved the way for the Serpents. Charles ‘Chic’’Saberhagen had been the only stable figure in her life until Hal had come along. PawPaw had never liked Hal and while Hal had never said anything, Alice had always thought the feeling was mutual. He had died not long before the ugly mess and she wondered if he would have helped her if she had chosen to keep the baby. He had always wished for more grandchildren and maybe a great grandchild would have somehow breathed new life into him. 

 

She thinks of one or both of them every day. They were her ghosts, hovering over her shoulder as she tried to live her life the best she could. Alice has to believe in the human soul or else they're just gone. If she does, then they're together. 

 

But that was all in the past now. She had to focus on Polly and Betty. They were good girls and she was going to do anything to keep them that way. The Coopers had a good life, she was sitting in a tea room with the women who had looked down on her once upon a time looking up at her. The other Klump child, Midge, is second place to Betty. Polly is likely going to be valedictorian and Prom Queen her senior year. 

 

It had been for the best. 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr: adozendays and/or twitter: cherrysodacola


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